Excuses
by Xx.LoveIsABlessing.xX
Summary: #16 in the 100 Themes challenge. I'm back!


**#16 : Excuses**

Ashley Grant's angry blue eyes narrowed as she watched Amy Fleming trot up the the judges to collect her first prize ribbon. She held it proudly as her picture was taken for the county newspaper, sitting on Sundance with the horse facing the camera, his ears pricked forward towards the camera eagerly.

_'That ribbon should have been mine!'_ Ashley thought as she thrust her own horse's reins to the stable hand she'd brought with her to the competition. The boy shook his head at her anger as he rubbed Bright Magic's sweaty neck and clicked to him to walk him over to the trailer to be untacked and rubbed down.

Ashley stomped over to where her car sat waiting for her, eager to leave the arena and head home.

As she drove off, Ashley sent one last angry glare Amy's way, her anger only growing when she saw Amy standing beside Ty Baldwin, the boy that she had but Ashley wanted.

His arm was around her shoulders as he laughed with another guy.

Ashley sent gravel flying as she peeled out.

_**#16E**_

Slamming her car door behind her, Ashley stomped up the stone steps to the large house where she lived with her mother. She went inside and headed towards the stairs, intent on going to her room.

"Ashley."

The sound of her mother's voice drew Ashley up short and she gave a low growl before turning on her heel and going into the living room where her mother sat, watching out of the window.

"Yes Mother?" Ashley asked, standing in the doorway, still dressed in her riding outfit.

"How did the jumping competition go?" Val Grant asked, her eyes still looking out of the window.

"It went fine." Ashley said and turned to leave, but her mother's voice just drew her back abruptly.

"If it went fine then why did you come in third place?" Val snapped, looking away from the window to narrow her eyes on her daughter.

_'How did she know?' _Ashley thought in alarm as she looked at her mother.

"You lost to that Fleming girl, _again_!" Val exclaimed, slapping her hand down on the table in front of her and glaring heatedly at her only child.

Ashley stiffened indignantly, "It's that stupid horse's fault, Mother! He's so stupid and slow! I keep telling you that we need to sell him and get a new one."

"There is nothing wrong with the horse, Ashley. I've seen that horse throw itself over jumps for you, _you _are the problem." Val stood and started pacing, crossing her arms over her chest.

Ashley watched her mother pace, knowing that more was to come.

"That horse has a blue paper pedigree, Ashley. The horse that Amy Fleming rides? It came from the doorway of a slaughterhouse!" Val yelled at her, whirling on her daughter.

"I can't help that!" Ashley yelled back.

"But you can sure as hell work with the horse to get better! You are not putting enough into the horse." Val told her.

"Not putting enough into the horse? Can you hear yourself? I put _too much_ into that horse!" Ashley exclaimed.

Val paused in her pacing, "And how do you see that, Ashley? Please explain."

Ashley let out an annoyed breath, wanting nothing more than to go to her room and sink into a hot bath, "Working with that beast exhausts me, Mother. He's thick headed and stupid, it takes so much to make him learn. He's bigger than me and he steps on me. That hurts!"

Val rolled her eyes at her overly dramatic daughter, "I have never seen anything of the sort. When I set out to find you a sport horse, I deliberately looked for a smart horse that learned easily and followed orders. That horse may be a beast, but it is smarter than you are, Ashley."

Ashley gasped at her mother's words, her mouth falling open in shock.

Val smirked at her daughter, "You don't have anything to say? That's certainly a shock," She paused to shake her head at her daughter, "All you do is come up with excuses for your failures, Ashley. I am more than tired of it. You refuse to acknowledge that it is you yourself holding yourself back from achieving what you want. That is why that Fleming girl has beat you time and again in the arean, and she's also beaten you at getting the attentions of that boy."

Again Ashley could only stare at her mother after what she had said, unable to believe what she was hearing.

"How could you say that to me? I am your daughter!" Ashley shrieked at her when she'd finally found her voice.

"And as your mother it is my job to rebuke you when you are wrong." Val said calmly, waiting to see what her daughter would say next.

Ashley had nothing else to say to her mother, turning on her heel and going to her room.

Val shook her head at her daughter. She had expected nothing less.


End file.
